Reflection
by Hannibal-Hopkins
Summary: Dr Lecter reflects on a past event that has shaped his present life......(something I wrote in just under an hour!)


Disclaimer - I in no way own the characters of Dr Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. They both belong to the genius that is Thomas Harris; I've just merely borrowed them and a few parts of the book for a moment. I am not making any profit whatsoever from them.  
  
  
  
Authors note - This takes place four years after the end of Hannibal, is from Dr Lecter's POV and follows the book canon. It is appearing as I wrote it down....it's not been edited, so I apologise if things seem as if they are all over the place. Hope you like.....  
  
Tata, H  
  
_______________________________________________  
  
This evenings Dinner was a very pleasant affair, which came with a very nourishing conversation spoken only in Italian. The meal itself was accompanied by a vintage Bordeaux and finished off with an assortment of fruit and cheese's. I am pleased to say that my appetite for good food, fine wine and conversation was completely sated.  
  
I am now reclining on the couch in the comforts of the drawing room of a place I happily call home. Bach is playing in the background; the notes are washing over and soothing me. I have my much sought after freedom. I have flown from the confines of my dungeon, but in the process of my escape I became imprisoned by something I hold dearest to my heart, the one person who now lies next to me in the safety of my embrace...my little Starling.  
  
She is lying with her back against my chest, her head rests upon my left arm I have cradled around her, the fingers of her right hand are next to her face and entwined with mine. My right arm is draped on her waist gently stroking and caressing her skin, as if I'm proving to myself that she is real and I'm not dreaming. We have just made love and remain naked in our embrace; the open fire blazing away in the hearth keeps us warm. The light cast from it dances upon her face revealing to me even more of her beauty. I feel my heart swell in my chest with the love and passion I have for this woman and for what we have achieved together. I close my eyes and allow myself to think back to four years ago.  
  
I am in the barn, at Mason Verger's estate, trussed up on the forklift truck. I have saline drips inserted into my arms; I am barefoot and wear the mask. I will admit it now that I did think this was the end, but I refused to show it, no-one would ever see me anything less than my composed self. I knew that you'd somehow know where I had been taken; you never were one to leave things undone and our conversation was still to be properly completed. The FBI wouldn't help you find me, so you went it alone - you risked your life for me.  
I recall the boars pushing the wooden doors, to get to me in the centre of the pen, and Mason's henchman standing nearby, the smell from all those put together was an insult to my senses. But then I smelt something different, I smelt you Clarice, you're unique scent mixed in with nervousness and trepidation, you're adrenalin was up and ready for what came next.  
I saw you burst in with your .45 aimed at the men you were shouting at them to 'Freeze and get on the floor'...they couldn't understand so I translated for you. Then a gun fight eschewed, two were killed by you. There were two more left in the pen with us, they were handcuffed, wrist to ankle, to each other, I'd never seen you working as up close and personal as I did that night, I suppose I felt proud and in awe of how you dealt with them so methodically, I loved you all the more for risking your own safety to give me mine.  
You turned your attention to freeing me then, we engaged in a little small talk that culminated in you threatening to kill me if I 'fucked' with you. I told you about there being another man in the loft, by now I was cutting myself free as you were trying to trace him, and then it happened...I thought my life had been changed forever, I thought I'd nearly got you to myself and lost you.  
I got you out of there, removed the darts from you and sucked the poison out. I used your car and drove us to where I was staying. For days I looked after you and nursed you back to health. I was angry at those who'd hurt you and so I decided to get revenge on them. This was the last time I killed - I stopped only for you, Clarice.  
We both dined on Krendler's brain that night, you had finally realised all that I was telling you, you'd decided what you wanted. You proved it to me when you told me that I never had to give up your breast. We sealed our love and companionship throughout the night, in the master bedroom. Enveloping ourselves in each other we became one together, we pledged ourselves to each other on that cold December night, both shedding our old lives, for a new life together.  
  
So now we have settled down to a life here in Buenos Aires. I trust her like no other person before; I've allowed her into my shadows and to see the man behind the monster. She has always accepted me for what I was and treats me as a human being, I gave her my trust, honesty, faith and love..I will even go as far as to say that I worship her. In return she has given me back all that I'd given her. The road to where we are now was a long and often frustrating one, but it moulded us and sealed our love, it proved to the world that we were destined for each other and are soul mates. The evidence that we are now husband and wife, with a 3 month old son, does nothing else but echo this.  
  
My eyes now reopen and I notice that the fire has begun to die down; it will not do for my darling wife to catch a chill. I gently move from behind Clarice and pick her up into my arms. She awakens softly and places her arms around my neck..I inhale her scent and note that it is worry free. She nuzzles her head into my neck and places soft kisses there as I walk up to our bedroom. I reach the door and open it. I think that I must be the luckiest man to have found my 'Beatrice' after the errors I'd made. I take us both over the threshold into the privacy of our own room, where our son lies sleeping soundly in his crib, I softly close the door behind us on all that exists outside of it. My wife, son and our peace of mind mean more to me than anything else in the world and I will always protect them.  
  
I vow my own home will never become my gallows. 


End file.
